Parents, You Think It’s Bad Now? Wait Till Your Child Wants A Wearable….

IMG_4977I just bought my first wearable…..Don’t know what a wearable is? Crawl out from under that rock, and welcome to your future. Wearables are digital internet connected devices that you wearnope not talking about your iPod or mobile phone worn on your arm in a holderbut digital communication smart devices that are either embedded into clothing, or accessories. Google Glass is of course a wearable as is the “Fit Bit“.

The wearable I bought was a Pebble Smart Watch, it’s one of the first of its kind. A digital watch that is synced with your phone Android or iPhone with available apps you install. You can’t answer calls on the Pebble, but you can read text messages, and Tweets, get the weather, stock reports, and more.

The Pebble is very basic really, it reminds me of an old fashioned PDA, black and white LCD screen. I had a Cassiopeia back in the 90’s which was one of the first mobile computers cross between a laptop and a Palm Pilot. Being a digital gadget fan, of course I’m going to buy a wearable.

What is it good for? Well….I walk for exercise and my sanity every day. I have my iPhone in a fanny pack..yes I know I’m a dagif the phone rings, or I want to see a text I have to take my phone out of my fanny pack (Bum Bag) to look at it, I didn’t have a sports watch… Useful! I also thought it would be very useful for skiing. The last time we went skiing we communicated with the kids and our group through masses of text messages. We don’t all ski at the same level, and would split up, and meet for lunch, coffee, etc. via text messages with were very frequent. My phone is kept in the jacket  pocket..hard to get at and dangerous whilst skiing or on a liftso a wearable would be very handy to read texts or find out who is ringing me whilst skiing! This is a great watch for Sport.

The Pebble is also waterproof, I imagine for swimmers or surfers it could be useful (if the Bluetooth distance stretches that far) to read texts whilst surfing or swimmingyeh I knowswitch off!!!

But here’s the thing….Kids and wearables. Wow, this is going to the NEXT thing that schools and parents will have to address BIG Time! Wearables are going to be so popular with  kids. Wearables are going to get a LOT more interactive than the Pebble is right now, with better games, color screens, the ability to get Siri (voice activation) working to make calls and answer them..texting, messaging and more. Are we going to see a time in the next year or so where Wearables will be banned from classrooms? How do you do that, if the wearable IS the child’s watch? I noticed that Will.I.Am was wearing one on The Voice, and was looking at it constantly..imagine THAT in your classroom?

If you are putting off your digital technology education because it all seems too hard now? I strongly advise you don’t.

Have you bought a wearable yet?

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